We started off the year with an app that looked like this that was still using the old interface, was only in English, no frame delay feature, still had “filled circle” segments, no background gradients, couldn’t open ZIP files, no magnifier, no fullscreen, couldn’t filter import lists, and of course – no transparency and filters.

And look where we are now…Wonder what 2018 will have in store for the Stick Nodes community 🤔

I have to admit, Stick Nodes was supposed to be a quick project in 2014 and then I was going to move onto other things. But because of the community that grew around this little animation app I’ve stuck around and for three years now have been adding new things to both the app as well as to the website here. It’s an enjoyable experience because of the people here that truly have a good time with the app and the feedback that I hear.

Saturation Takes all the color out of a figure, makes it black and white. Alternatively, upping saturation makes colors brighter.

Tint Colors a figure and all segments, useful for turning a complex Goku figure red for a kaioken effect.

Blur Horizontal, vertical, or both – useful for fast motion or maybe a depth-of-field effect.

DISCLAIMER!!! These filters CAN and LIKELY will lag your device. This is the whole reason I didn’t bother with it for months/years now. If you have a low-end device, for example, blurring even 1 figure will likely slow down your playback (blurring is the most CPU intense). High-end devices can handle more filters.

To combat this, I lowered the quality of filters only when in the app. When you export your animation, the filtered stickfigures will look better AND there will be no lag, even if you experience lag when you play the animation in the Stick Nodes app. Okay, disclaimer over.

There are other new features in this update as well, as you can see from the changelog, many useful ones too. I harbor no illusions that the filters will dominate much of the discussion, but don’t overlook the other neat things (guidelines, “clear frame” button, camera widescreen/watermark, etc).

Price Increase

Stick Nodes Pro is now $2.99 USD vs the old price of $1.99. Why is this?

Truthfully, it’s because of the amount of work I put into the app. It’s a one-man operation. I manage the community, keep the website running, run the social media accounts, download/approve/screenshot/upload stickfigures daily, reply to comments/messages, pay for the website/domain/app market charges, and on top of all that I continue to update the app with new and interesting features years after the initial release.

So to be honest, I feel a $2.99 price isn’t asking much. If I had to guess, I’d wager that price itself isn’t what will prevent the majority of people from buying the app, rather it’s just the fact that there’s a price at all (maybe they have no access to money online, parents, etc). So I think there will be little outrage over this…I hope 🙂

Filters Pro Only

Why did I make the filters Pro-only? Well, because they are very Pro-like features to be honest. Note I did not make transparency Pro-only, that would be pure evil move since the community as a whole has really been wanting it. But the rest of the filters were made Pro-only to give Pro users a gift/incentive to upgrade.